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CD: $14.98
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Aqueduct
Or Give Me Death
David Terry's love of the pop hook has only gotten stronger with time. Unlike i sold gold's huge, blown-out drum sounds and blip-pop synths, or give me death finds Terry broadening his tonal horizons to encompass mariachi horns, Gershwin-esque strings, looped and layered vocals, and grand piano. Oh and there’s also quite a lot more electric guitar. -CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Barsuk
Genre/Style: Pop
MP3 Living A Lie
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CD: $13.98
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Audionom
Retrospektiv
Formed in the late 90’s, Audionom is a Stockholm supergroup that quickly became a popular live act known for its abrasive shows that also integrated the films of member Martin Malm. The band’s hypnotic pummeling sound took inspiration from their love for such early experimental visionaries as Hawkwind, Brian Eno, and Neu! Nowhere is this more evident then on their full length debut Retrospektiv, which is comprised of material taken from various recordings and incarnations spanning 1999-2002. Upon discovering Restrospektiv on a recent voyage to Sweden, Kemado A&R Keith Abrahamsson knew it was a discovery worth bringing home. “It was just one of those right time, right place instances that ended up working out for us.”
Repetition is definitely a reoccurring theme on Retrospektiv. Whether it’s the punishing monotonous sound in opener “Ljusets Krigare”, the electronically-keyed “Kristall,” or avant Joy Division-esque “And You Said I Was The Only One,” the merging of electronic and punk rock is repeated throughout the entire record.
The current status of the band is happily reunited (as of December 2006). Internal tension has caused the band to break up and reform numerous times over the years, but amends have been made, and you can expect a lot more from them in the future. But for now, Retrospekiv serves to introduce their intense music to a whole new audience eager for an uncompromising, wall of sound.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Kemado
Genre/Style: Post Punk
MP3 Kein Bock
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CD:$13.98$9.98
LP:$12.98
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The Besnard Lakes
Are the Dark Horse
Rich with Beach Boys style harmonies, Roy Orbison reverbs and orchestra, Pink Floyd's pacing and Freddy Mercury's falsetto, The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse is a luxurious foray into sound and music. This is the second record by The Besnard Lakes, Montrealers by way of Western Canada. Their independently released previous record, Volume I, came out in 2004, and it was noticed by critics but was largely overlooked by the public at large. On both records, The Besnard Lakes have shown that they are masters of finely-honed experimental pop songs that invoke the eerie Lynchian setting as aided and abetted by the music of Julee Cruise. But, on The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse, the band throws into the mix a mad dash of Fleetwood Mac proportioned swagger and ambition. Not so incidentally, the Besnard Lakes have created a masterpiece that will resonate within all quarters, amongst critics, casual and not-so-casual rock listeners, garden variety pop fans and headphone junkies.
The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse was recorded by Jace Lasek at the Breakglass Studios (whose production credits include Wolf Parade, Islands, Sunset Rubdown and Stars, amongst others) with his wife and band member, Olga Goreas. The other members of The Besnard Lakes, Steve Raegele, Nicole Lizée, and Kevin Laing, contributed as well. Nicole wrote dark string and horn parts, Steve wrote dark guitar solos, Kevin, dark drumming. Also joining in on the making of this record would be George Donoso III from The Dears, Chris Seligman from Stars, Sophie Trudeau from Godspeed/Silver Mt. Zion and Jonathan Cummins from Bionic/Doughboys.
As an interesting aside, the completion of the album seems to have conjured a bizarre series of unexplained events. When the six-person live band, that includes Lasek, Goreas, Raegele, Lizée, Laing and third guitarist Richard White, began performing this new material (usually accompanied by a five person choir, French horn, flute, and violins), strange things began to happen. During the quietest section in the song 'Disaster,' a bartender dropped a load of dishes onto the floor. On another occasion, while opening for Wolf Parade, during the same quiet section in 'Disaster,' the front-of-house console actually turned off (!) then on again creating a thunderous crack throughout the theatre. And Kevin Laing, (drummer) suffered second degree burns on his face the day after completing drum tracks for ...The Dark Horse. Coincidence? Maybe. This is The Dark Horse; this is The Besnard Lakes... -CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Jagjaguwar
Genre/Style: Pop / Rock
MP3 And You Lied To Me
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CD:$11.98
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Black Lips
Valientes Del Mundo Nuevo
The Black Lips are kings of the psychedelic garage rock underground. They started the band when they were 15 years old and spent the next seven years touring the world, booking themselves, playing for scraps. Underground parties, basement shows, outlaw festivals, the odd tour opening for Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and Be Your Own Pet, plus three classic albums, countless 7"s, a couple DVDs, and their own seminal garage rock label Die Slaughterhaus cemented their reputation. They're now 22 years old, grizzled veterans of the underground, and legends in the scene.
Now's when they explode. Their unpredictable live show has turned them into the most notorious band on the road-- three singers singing lead on almost every song, flying blood, group kissing, sudden nudity, fireworks explosions, and pissing into their mouths and onto the audience are just some of the tricks up their sleeve. Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo perfectly captures the excitement and chaos of their live show while showcasing all of their greatest hits. It's the perfect prize for fans and the ultimate introduction for beginners.
Playing self-coined "flower punk" in the vein of Nuggets-faves The Seeds and The 13th Floor Elevators, live or on record it's hard to hide the fun these boys have and impossible to describe how uninhibited audiences get at their shows. The Black Lips have tapped into a very secret well that everyone wants to drink from. And it's all on Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Vice Recordings
Genre/Style: Garage
MP3 Stranger
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CD:Super Roots 6 $15.98
CD:Super Roots 7 $11.98
CD:Super Roots 8 $11.98
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Boredoms
Super Roots 6
Super Roots 7
Super Roots 8
The 17 numbered tracks of the album Super Roots 6 were issued in 1996 and was the only title in the Super Roots series to see a release in the US, although it has been out of print for years. Aside from a harsh noise buffer in opener "01," some slicing cymbal in "13," and some squeaking ape stomp in "14," Super Roots 6 is the gentlest of any Boredoms release, a collection of static and minimally manipulated beats, sometimes juxtaposed with world music loop overlays. It seems to have been been created in a new headspace: meditative, self-aware, and pregnant with breaks and beats yet to be unearthed by the cratediggers of the world.
This EP might sound familiar to Mekons fans; ostensibly, it’s an extended cover of the group’s second single, “Where Were You?” The gods and goddesses of the rave had their way with the Boredoms by its 1998 release date, particularly in its exuberant, 20-minute “Boriginal” mix (numerologically helping to celebrate the Mekons’ 20-year anniversary as an active band by proxy). Both this version and the two Eye-sanctioned remixes that bookend it lock into the mekano-heartbeat of Krautrock and embrace synthesizers more fully than any previous releases. These are joyous chords that ring out with precision and abandon alike, when warranted.
his EP finds the group tackling the theme to the Japanese TV show "Jungle Taitei." It would seem that they took the title literally, as the otherwise majestic track is sliced into thousands of pieces by 250 BPM beyond-gabber drum programming. Yann Tomita’s blissed out “Laughter Robot’s Hemp Mix” helps to bring the track back to earth, with spacy, phased percussion and heavy electronic dub passages. It’s the only selection in the entire collection touched by outside influence, a trend that would surface again with the Rebore series of remixes that followed the Super Roots recordings. -CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Vice Recordings
Genre/Style: Experimental / Jazz / Psychedelic
MP3 Myspace
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CD:$13.98$8.98
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Call Me Lightning
Soft Skeleton
Playing Relative Theory Febuary 28th.
Following up their 2004 debut release on Revelation Records, Milwaukee's Call Me Lightning entered the studio with Steve Albini in 2006 to try to harness their frenetic post-punk sound that has been influenced by the likes of The Talking Heads, The Jesus Lizard and more. -CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: French Kiss
Genre/Style: Math Rock / Post Punk
MP3 Billion Eyes
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CD: $14.98
LP: $12.98
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Calla
Strength in Numbers
Callas sophomore effort encompasses their signature experimental raw sound. Written and recorded while on tour abroad and in their hometowns, the band had a chance to focus on their collections of field recordings for this release. Theyve created their own identity, while at the same time have been compared to Nick Cave and Low. Burrowing into dark corners of new waves shiny, happy side, the band Calla finds something more than brooding and vintage black couture.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Beggars Banquet
Genre/Style: Rock
MP3 Myspace
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CD:$13.98$9.98
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Eluvium
Copia
Following a string of increasingly remarkable albums, Eluvium's Matthew Cooper set out to broaden his instrumental palette, while maintaining the uncanny emotional resonance that has become his trademark. The result is 'Copia', an hour-long epic that applies Eluvium's heartache-inducing ether to a symphony of strings, brass, keyboards and piano. Noticeably absent but hardly missed are the washes of guitars that color most of Eluvium's previous material. The deliberate exclusion of traditional rock instrumentation serves as sufficient proof that the instrument is not Eluvium¹s driving force. At best it is a catalyst, a vehicle to that netherworld in the back of your head, where your life starts to uncontrollably reevaluate itself.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Temporary Residence
Genre/Style: Post-Rock / Ambient
MP3 Prelude For Time Feelers
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2CD:$13.98$9.98
2LP:$16.98
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Explosions in the Sky
All of A Sudden, I Miss Everyone
Thirty seconds is all you'll need to believe in the tragedy-turned-majesty of 'All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone', Explosions In The Sky's long-awaited fourth album. The hands-over-your-face, drop-to-your-knees opening track is only the beginning of the dominating brilliance of this record. Recorded by John Congleton (The Roots, The Mountain Goats) at Pachyderm Studios in rural Minnesota, the album is a massive leap forward, showcasing a broader instrumental range and their most focused, efficient songwriting to date. It's also within arm's length of matching the overwhelming glory of their legendary live shows, trading in the crystalline production of 'The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place' for a paint-peeling intensity that blurs the lines between studio and live performance. -CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Temporary Residence
Genre/Style: Post Rock
MP3 Welcome, Ghosts
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CD: $14.98
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Jesu
Conquerer
J.K. Broadrick triumphantly returns with his second, and quite appropriately titled, Jesu full-length (the follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed Silver EP). Packed with eight gorgeously hypnotic tracks in just over an hour, Conqueror exhales a dreamlike mist of weighty celestial ambience, underwater phantasms and slow-rolling nebulae, fomenting the kind of kaleidoscopic rapture—brimming with lush electronics, dulcet guitar textures, massive riffs, and lavish atmospheric hues—that makes us swear we’re on drugs.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Hydra Head
Genre/Style: Shoegaze / Drone
MP3 Myspace
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CD: $12.98
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Minus the Bear
Interpritacions
Minus the Bear might seemingly have come from out of nowhere. But after close to six years on the scene, following a long string of sold out shows and countless underground hits, the band is finally on the cusp of what seemingly befalls all artists...their first remix record. And while this act can frequently reek of self-indulgence with most bands, the resulting record here offers a fresh and varied look into a band that has sadly been reduced to the more pop corners of the earth.
Minus the Bear have much more in common with chronic noise masters Dalek than you might think: their records are frequently steeped in atmospherics and peppered with some serious prog-rock tendencies. Their most recent full length (and featured remix victim) Menos El Oso was heavy on samples and their live set finds guitarist David Knudson playing his peddles more frequently than his guitar; hunkered over the side of the stage, syncopated and spastic.
So when Minneapolis based rapper P.O.S. turns Drilling into a skronked up backdrop over which vocalist Jake Snider can plaintively lament, it's not really a shock...or is it? When Battles' Tyondai Braxton brings Erin Tate's clipped drums front and center to the mix it's akin to watching ice melt. As Minus the Bear transform, Interpretaciones Del Oso achieves that rare remix goal of presenting an already esteemed record in an entirely new light. As it unfolds, everything about Menos El Oso's laid back pop veneer is deconstructed, pulling back the layers to reveal a band much greater than the sum of it's parts.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Suicide Squeeze
Genre/Style: Remix / Tribute
MP3 Drilling Remixed by P.O.S.
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CD: $11.98
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The One A.M. Radio
This Too Will Pass
An emotionally intense amalgam of anxiety, isolation, and a series of transient experiences gathered over this turbulent era by artist Hrishikesh Hirway. A cathartic journey examining the depths of his experiences, melding a vast array of electronic and organic instruments that often defy conventional recognition with powerful songwriting. Hirway has a gift for musically rendering breathless anticipation. Still, the effects never overshadow his innate knack for lyrical illumination.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Dangerbird
Genre/Style: Electro Pop
MP3 Myspace
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CD:$13.98$9.98
CD:$11.98
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Richard Swift
Dressed Up For the Let Down
Richard Swift's sophomore release "Dressed Up For The Letdown" seems to symbolically call for an end to the age of overdub onslaughts and overrated studio trickery that have been plaguing records since the advent of the ADAT. After all... Sly Stone didn't quantize Luv N' Haight; in 1969, Crosby Stills and Nash weren't Helplessly Hoping auto-tune would be invented; and there's no doubt in my mind that whoever is responsible for the tambourine on Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35 had gotten stoned (as suggested). Why bring this up? Because each of the aforementioned songs have remained steadfast against the hourglass sands, regardless of the lack of digital editing employed during their respective recordings. You can just smell it in the air, can't you? You know, the unmistakable fragrance of the impending societal revolt against the modern milquetoast manifestations of "art"? or is it just me? I mean, who among us found themselves wishing George Lucas was poor again, whilst miserably enduring the Star Wars prequels? I see those hands. Sure, it looked cool... sort of... Personally I'd take Clockwork Orange any day over this green-screen nonsense.
And herein lies the point: just because you can, doesn't necessarily mean you should. In the spirit of this truth Richard Swift has confidently composed yet another original masterpiece; employing an archaic attitude of tempered restraint on a fresh collection of ten songs, without appearing shamelessly retro or kitschy. Playing a vast majority of the instruments on "Dressed Up" himself, by virtue Swift has created something that is characteristically his. And considering his rough-around-the-edges exterior, one could rightly assume that Swift desires the listener to accept him as an ordinary honest man with some honest songs -- unmasked blemishes and all. Yet when one engages with Swift on this narrow-road-less-traveled, one immediately ignores the subtle imperfections shadowed by the all-consuming white light of well-crafted pop songs in an analog heaven. In effect he's saying, "Just listen to my songs... the riffraff in the background is inconsequential." Sure Swift... whatever you say.
Dare I say fans of "The Richard Swift Collection Vol. 1" will not feel "Dressed Up For The Letdown", as Swift leads the faithful further into a melancholic world draped with colorful sonic landscapes.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Secretly Canadian
Genre/Style: Acoustic / Folk
MP3 Kisses For the Misses
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CD:$15.98
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Trans Am
Sex Change
After Trans Am’s last album, Liberation – a bleak portrayal of life in a security-obsessed imperial capital – the band exploded and abandoned Washington, D.C. for three different continents.
The following period of programmed isolation found Nathan Means in Auckland, Phil Manley in San Francisco and Sebastian Thomson splitting time between London and New York. Internal contact was primarily electronic but for a handful of live shows.
With two years’ of separation fueling them, the band began in June 2006 on a program of sporadic rendezvous, reconvening briefly on several continents to work on what would become the most joyous and upbeat rock album of Trans Am’s chronicle.-CP
Release Date: 02/20/07
Label: Thrill Jockey
Genre/Style: Electro Pop
MP3 Myspace
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